


But You're Not Always Gonna Be Around

by Cirque de la Lune (Saltimbanco)



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 10:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4431512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saltimbanco/pseuds/Cirque%20de%20la%20Lune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He said he would always be there to protect him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But You're Not Always Gonna Be Around

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for a prompt on tumblr for a friend, it got some nice (read; screaming) reviews over there so I thought I might transfer it over here as well! A bit shorter than what I normally write, but still something to share.

The fighting is right on top of them. They’re huddled together, Owen and Zach both pushing against him to try and shield the younger boy. Aunt Claire is screaming, and then Owen is pushing them, yelling too—Gray’s mind is far too panicked to register anything, aside from the shoving. 

He feels a hand on his shoulder, and doesn’t have to look up to know who it is—Zach, always at his side, as he has been throughout this entire ordeal. The gesture calms the younger boy somewhat, as he begins his mad dash to his widely gesturing aunt currently crouched behind a display. There’s a crash nearby, as the Tyrannosaurus slams a foot down and the Indominous swings its tail, through the already crumbling gift hut and Gray is suddenly forced to the ground by his brother.

And in an instant, the rough touch is gone.

He hears Claire and Owen yell again, and slowly does he realize the space beside him—the space that his brother had been occupying—is empty. His gaze follows the swoop of the Indominous’s tail, only to find his brother at the end of, slammed against a wall and pitifully wheezing.

Gray doesn’t react for a moment, simply staring at his broken brother. Tears well in his eyes, threatening to fall but he can hear Zach’s words from earlier— _don’t cry_ —and even though things have changed in those few hours, he does his best to withhold the tears. He feels a hand at his shoulder—Owen’s, probably--, beckoning him to come over to safety, because Zach isn’t moving and it’s far too obvious that he isn’t going to make it much longer.

Gray screams and breaks out of the handler’s grip, the current fight between predators hardly on his mind anymore. He drops to his knees, ignoring the pain as he slides to a stop and most likely slices into them.

“Zach? Zach— _Zach!!_ ”

He screams repeatedly, watching the slow and agonizing breaths his brother takes. Zach’s eyes are barely open, but they lock onto Gray’s bright blue ones, biting into his lower lips to try and hide the agony on his face. Gray pressed his knuckles into the ground, trying his hardest not to cry in front of his big brother, and Zach’s eyes flick momentarily behind them—Owen and Claire, but Gray doesn’t even turn to look. He’s far too focused on his brother. He feels a hand on his shoulder, but offers no acknowledgement of it.  Zach’s hand feebly moves to fall over his brother’s, letting out a wheezing breath before his body seems to relax and his eyes close. The hand on Gray’s shoulder tightens, and another joins it, and Gray is screaming, crying, begging Zach to open his eyes.

Owen wraps his arms around the younger boy’s waist, lifting him up and away from his brother’s corpse, despite Gray’s pitiful screams and kicks. The fight towers over them, crumbling the building around Zach as the Indominous is forced closer to the water, and there’s a loud crash and everything’s quiet, aside from soft chattering between Blue and the Rex, and Gray’s sobs. Owen clears his throat after a moment, and Gray is transferred from the handler’s to his aunt’s arms. She holds him closer, muttering soft ‘it’s okay’ and ‘I know’s into Gray’s hair, but he doesn’t hear it. Owen moves to pick up the body.

***

Its morning, and Gray hasn’t spoken a word. They’re in a hanger, waiting for the ferry to arrive and take them back to the mainland. Claire sits beside him, holding his hands in hers and rubbing gentle circles against them. Owen is off, helping the injured. Zach is laid over a bench.

Both his mother and father burst into tears when they see their boys, leaning into each other as they look over Zach, before moving towards Gray and pulling him into a hug, almost suffocatingly so. Claire keeps her hand and his back, trying her best not to cry with the family. Gray remains limp and unmoving.

He doesn’t want to believe it. He wants to close his eyes, pretend it’s all some bad dream, will it away. But every time he closes his eyes, he sees his brother’s painful breathing coming less and less frequent, he sees the way it relaxed and the way his chest stopped moving. And when he opens his eyes, he sees his brother limp body. There is no escaping this nightmare.

Owen comes back eventually, muttering something to Claire before his eyes fall to the younger boy. He settles down in front of Gray, making sure that their making eye contact. A comforting hand rests on his shoulder, but Gray just wants to wrestle out of it. He wants to be left alone.

Owen begins to talk—something about him and his brother, and bravery, and how Zach looked after him until the end and Gray was a strong young boy who was going to be alright. Claire smiles softly and stands behind him, a hand on the man’s shoulder. Gray is only half paying attention, his gaze wandering away from the raptor handler’s and across the way.

He finds his brother’s body again.

He can hear his voice again—a phantom echo.

_“I’m not gonna leave you.”_

**_Liar._ **

 


End file.
